CHANDIGARH: Member of Parliament of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Rajya Sabha from Punjab, Sandeep Pathak, the only one of the seven defected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs who was recently appointed as national secretary of the saffron party, was among the 16 national secretaries in the recent party restructuring by national president Nitin Nabin.
A former assistant professor at IIT-Delhi, known for his behind-the-scenes work, played a crucial role in AAP’s success in the state in 2022. He met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, fuelling speculation about a key role for him in the party's Punjab strategy ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
The 46-year-old Pathak, known to be deeply familiar with the state as he played a major role in 2022 in the ticket selection of AAP candidates, many of whom are now sitting MLAs, after meeting Shah wrote on X, “Had the privilege of meeting Hon’ble Home Minister Shri Amit Shah Ji yesterday. Grateful for his time, guidance and encouragement, looking forward to contributing towards further strengthening the Party and advancing the vision of a Viksit Bharat.”
Pathak, who was recently appointed national secretary of the BJP barely three months after he switched over from AAP, was once AAP’s key strategist, a permanent invitee to its political affairs committee and close to national convener and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
He was appointed national general secretary of the AAP in December 2022. Six months before that, he had been sent to the Rajya Sabha by AAP.
Sources said that there is now anticipation within the saffron party that Pathak could be utilised in Punjab, where he helped establish a strong ground connect that played a role in AAP's historic win in 2022.
The BJP is likely to task Pathak with fresh strategising in the state, where internal party surveys have reportedly thrown up evidence of anti-incumbency against many sitting AAP MLAs.
Pathak, who had created a network of winning strategies using his strengths in data analysis and number crunching, was the AAP's Punjab in-charge at the time.
It is expected that the BJP will bank on AAP rebels to play spoilsport, given indications that the ruling party may not give tickets to many sitting MLAs to counter the anti-incumbency factor.
Thus, Pathak could have a role in assessing the impact of anti-incumbency against AAP legislators and the influence the rebels could have. The strategist may also help pinpoint winnable seats amid signs of ongoing back-channel parleys between estranged partners BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal, which are exploring a pre-poll alliance.
Not from a political family, Sandeep Pathak, hailing from Batha village in Chhattisgarh, moved to Bilaspur for his schooling. After completing his Bachelor of Science, he went on to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in the UK and later studied at Oxford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.
He comes with a strong academic background, and his rise in politics has been driven by his work behind the scenes, like surveys, election planning, organisation-building, candidate selection and understanding the ground realities.
He has now become one of the few low-profile leaders to hold important decision-making positions in both AAP and BJP.
